The Power To Believe

Performer: King Crimson
Engineer: Jeff Juliano; Machine
Producer: King Crimson; Machine
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: King Crimson: Adrian Belew (vocals, guitar); Trey Gunn (guitar, fretless bass); Robert Fripp (guitar); Pat Mastelotto (drums, programming). Additional personnel: Tim Faulkner (spoken vocals); Machine (programming). King Crimson: Adrian Belew (vocals, guitar); Trey Gunn (guitar, fretless guitar); Robert Fripp (guitar); Pat Mastelotto (drums). Personnel: Machine (programming). Audio Mixer: Machine. King Crimson guitarist/founder Robert Fripp's famous quote that "King Crimson is a way of doing things" has seldom seemed truer than on THE POWER TO BELIEVE. The group's second studio album as a quartet in the wake of old hands Tony Levin and Bill Bruford's departure fits fully into the ever-shifting but consistently regenerative Crimson continuum. "Level Five" and the multi-part title track are pounding, counterpoint-filled tunes that hark back to Crimson's oft-revisited touchstone "Larks Tongues in Aspic." Along the way, Fripp, Adrian Belew and company also manage to venture more fully than ever into the Balinese Gamelan sound they first began exploring on 1981's DISCIPLINE, and drummer Pat Mastelloto throws in some electronic flavors that nod to drum-and-bass and garage beats. The dark, intense angularity that is a Crimson trademark is offset by a couple of ethereal, ambient electronic soundscapes, but there's plenty of hard-prog thrashing for those who were turned on to the band by their tour with heavy rockers Tool. And naturally, there's plenty of intricate musical invention for the longtime fans who expect nothing less.

Rolling Stone (3/20/03, p.65) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...It is the sound of apocalypse now....In the face of war, King Crimson make hopeful thunder..." Mojo (Publisher) (2/03, p.89) - "...Consistent....Hopefully, a revelation for a few young metal heads..." Record Collector (magazine) (p.92) - 5 stars out of 5 -- "THE POWER TO BELIEVE remains Crimson's most recent masterpiece and a must have for anyone who things that Radiohead work at the cliff edge of experimental rock."

Led by innovative guitarist/conceptualist Robert Fripp, King Crimson went through countless changes in style and personnel. They moved from early symphonic/progressive rock to angular, experimental improv to a mixture of hard rock and fusion before breaking up in the mid-'70s. Revived in the '80s, the group modernized its approach by incorporating Gamelan-like polyrhythms and an almost danceable Talking Heads-influenced sound into their approach. Always the coolest of the art-rockers, Crimson was also one of the most influential of the early-'70s prog crowd.

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